Squad news

REVIEW SEASON 2014/15: DEPORTIVO B

16 Jun 2015Bittersweet season for Fabril. Depor’s lads completed a meritorious regular season, ending at the second place at Tercera División, but later they were unable to materialize the promotion failing in the second round of the playoffs.

BACKGROUNDLast year Deportivo B had a mediocre season, ending ninth at Tercera División and not even qualifying for the playoffs. For this year, as always, there were a lot of changes at the squad, starting with the arrival of coach Manu Mosquera, who came from Laracha CF after a solid campaign in the previous Tercera tournament.

Fifteen players left the club, including Jorge Romay, Tonći Mujan and Marc Nierga. Meanwhile, Bicho, Álvaro Lemos and Sergio Teles were loaned out as the team missed the promotion to Segunda B.

As always the goal for the season was to end among the first four places and later fight for the promotion to Segunda B during the playoffs. Fabril and Pontevedra CF were the favourites to win the Galician group on the league.

THE SEASONThere were some surprises in the league as clubs like CD Choco –one of the four sides that earned a spot in the playoffs- Ribadeo CF and CD Ribadumia ended fighting for the first places, the last two were recently promoted clubs to Tercera, but the true is that it should be considered as a normal season as both Pontevedra and Depor B pleasantly dominated the Galician group and ended at the top two spots.

Pontevedra were the leaders and Fabril the runners-up. The regular season for Deportivo was pretty good though there were some problems at the start. And it’s that the team only won two of the first nine games (1-4 at Alondras CF and 1-2 at Pontevedra CF).

By matchday 9 the team only had 10 points and was only one point above the relegation zone. But it turned to be the first and last bump in the regular season. Immediately the team chained ten straight games without losing, including to add seven wins.

On matchday 17 the team clinched a 1-2 win visiting SC Arosa and reached the third spot at the standings. Since that day Depor B were going to stay in the promotion zone until the end of the tournament. Depor’s lads ended the first round at the third place (34 points), only three points below leaders Pontevedra CF.

The team cut the positive streak with a defeat visiting CD AS Pontes (2-1, matchday 20). But it was only a spark as the team added seven of the next nine points in dispute, which included to defeat Pontevedra CF again (2-1, matchday 23).

Fabril spent the last stretch in the regular season more worried of reaching the first place than concerned of not losing a spot in the playoffs. The true is that the team had a strong ending, winning eleven of the last fourteen games, but it could only end second as Pontevedra CF also made a very strong closing stage.

In the end Depor B were the runners-up adding 79 points in 38 matches, the best mark since the campaign 2009/10 (82 points). Fabril were the best offense in the league with 66 goals in favour and was the third best defense allowing 32 goals. It was a calm season as the team ended eight points behind leaders Pontevedra CF and with a twelve-point gap over fifth place Bergantiños CF.

THE PLAYOFFSThe brilliant performance of the regular season disappeared for the playoffs. There were two main problems: the team continued to fail playing on the road and the offensive potential was gone. For ending second the team had to face three playoff rounds in order to clinch the promotion to Segunda B, and Fabril didn’t pass the second tie.

The first series in the pre-season was played against Basque club SCD Durango. In the first-leg Depor B lost 2-1 playing in artificial turf, and managed to overcome the disadvantage in the second game with a suffered 2-0 win at Abegondo.

Different was the story in the second series. This time the rival was Andalusian UD San Pedro, again the team failed playing away from home suffering a 1-0 loss in the first game (Fabril has lost the last five away games in a playoff round). The second game ended 0-0 and Fabril were eliminated. Depor B ended as the best scorer in the Galician group, but in this series the goals were gone as Depor’s lads ended scoreless on both legs. It’s also true that it was a very tight series only defined by a penalty in the first game and after the referee disallowed a goal in the second game in which was a polemic call.

CONCLUSIONSThe sad ending cannot hide the fact that Deportivo B fulfilled the goal for the season, which was to end among the first four places and fight for the promotion. The team practiced attractive football and clinched good results, though this pretty style didn’t appear in the playoffs. So, it should be understand that it was a positive season that could have had a happier outcome.